LIVE WIRE – Sydney Live Music Guide April 19th

This Thursday April 19th gravel-voiced grunge, rock and blues veteran Mark Lanegan and his band will be playing at Hi-Fi. The ex-Screaming Trees frontman has made many collaborative efforts since the demise of the seminal grunge band, the most popular being with Queens Of The Stone Age on their album Songs For The Deaf. Lanegan’s latest effort Blues Funeral is a melange of dark pumping rock n roll. A veteran of rock with true grit. Across town, melodic indie-rock group The Medics are playing a show in the intimate confines of Goodgod Small Club. The group from Cairns have come to popular attention via Triple J unearthed for their spacey meandering rock and dance-pop grooves.

Friday April 20th at the Basement you can witness a special night of folk and jazz with Aussie singer-songwriting heroine Katie Noonan and her band Elixir. Not only does Katie have a swag full of ARIAs the group’s last album First Seed Ripening debuted at number one on ARIA jazz charts and spent practically eons in the charts. Over at the Metro Theatre there’s a bit of metalcore mayhem as August Burns Red take over the stage. This American group is nothing short of relentless with machine gun drumming, nightmarish vocals and of course bone crushing riffs. They’re joined on the night by compatriots Blessthefall.

Saturday April 21st one of Australia’s most talented organ players Lachy Doley is playing a show of solo material at the Vanguard. After spending years honing his craft while playing for the likes of Jimmy Barnes and Powderfinger, Lachy finally released an album of bluesy pop crooners – Typically Individual Conforming Anti-Social – and he’s returning to the Vanguard along with a team of gun musicians to rock the house once again. Former Weddings Parties Anything singer-guitarist Mick Thomas will be performing at the Annandale Hotel in honour of the release of his first solo album The Last Of The Tourists. The man has been playing blues and folk for just about 30 years now and this time in the business has seen him mentioned in the same company as Paul Kelly in reference to Australia’s greatest singer songwriters. Get along to this launch and see the man at his finest.

Sunday April 22nd Melbourne beat maker Galapagoose is playing a show of his experimental downtempo hip-hop in order to showcase tracks from his latest album Commitments. The dark and eery tracks, drenched in glitchy bleeps, atmospheric synths and the odd soulful vocal hook are groovy and mesmerising. You can take the musical journey with Galapagoose at Serial Space.

Finally, on Monday April 23rd over at venue 505 singer-guitarist Brian Campeau will be playing a show of his own brand of folk-acoustic music. This Canadian born Sydney resident is known for writing some pretty enchanting folk music with a knack for crafting beautiful melodies, unique guitar progressions and generally stirring music. Get uplifted.